Burgundy pleated-sleeve satin top with a leather wrap skirt

The top is burgundy satin with an asymmetric neckline that drapes from one shoulder to the other, and two short sleeves pleated in sunray folds that fan out from the shoulder like a pair of shells, each one standing a hand's width off the arm. The skirt is black leather, a wrap with a curved front panel and a front slit, layered over a panel of black bouclé tweed with raw edges that shows beneath it to the knee.

Worn in full sun it is a daytime event look, the kind of thing you put on for a long lunch in an old stone town and keep on until the lights come up. The shoes stay thin and pointed; the hair stays down; nothing goes on the neck. Spring and early autumn, and the first warm week of summer before the leather argues.

The sleeves are not practical. Neither am I, before noon.